


Of Unexpected Duties

by ried (riiiied)



Category: fault (Visual Novels)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-07
Updated: 2017-10-07
Packaged: 2019-01-09 23:22:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,829
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12286368
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/riiiied/pseuds/ried
Summary: Selphine sneaks out of a banquet held in her honour. It's Ritona's job (literally) to tail her.





	Of Unexpected Duties

**Author's Note:**

  * For [xenoglossy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/xenoglossy/gifts).



That night, the castle was bustling with activity.

As customary of any future ruler of Rughzenhaide who has completed the Path-Down, a banquet was held to commemorate the occasion, with guests invited from all across the kingdom. The preparations went for weeks, from the royal kitchen scouring the lands for the finest ingredients to the royal guards shaping up their most elite members to shape to ensure nothing goes wrong on the big day. Outside the castle was no different – anyone wandering the towns would find themselves in festivals no less lively than the royal banquet, bazaar stalls springing up like blooms in spring and people dancing around under the open air.

And as the closest and most trusted aide of the person in the middle of it all, Ritona Reighnvhasta was not spared any slack.

At the very least, she definitely was kept busy, even if not by what was originally on her job description.

There she was, keeping watch of the crowd from near one of the exits of the grand hall, when she saw Selphine sneak out from the corner of her eye. Ensuring that there were enough other guards still keeping watch of the hall, she gave swift chase through the halls of the castle. When she finally caught up, Selphine was standing in the middle of the back garden, secluded from the festivities of the other side of the castle.

“Selphine, what are you doing?” Ritona took brisk steps out towards the yard.

“Slipping out, of course. It was getting suffocating staying inside there.”

“I wouldn't have thought that you would leave early during an opportunity to eat all kinds of delicacies specifically prepared by our royal kitchen for you. The Head Chef and Misha would be dejected to hear of this,” Ritona said, shaking her head in exaggeration.

Selphine huffed. “Excuse me, I did already eat pretty much everything being served. And besides, even I can only eat so much.”

“I learn something new about you everyday.”

Selphine's pouting intensified. “Ritona, you're being mean today. Don't you know I also respect having a space for myself once in a while too?”

“Sorry," Ritona replied lightly with a grin. "But it _is_ my duty to look out for you tonight.” And every other day, to be fair. But days like these, with a deluge of outsiders coming into the royal district, posed even more risk than usual.

“Well, in that case,” Selphine said as she sat down on one of the nearby benches, “you can look out for me right here, right?” She patted her hand on the space next to her.

If she was to be honest, Ritona wasn't exactly vying to go back into the hall either. Taking up the invitation, she took her seat besides Selphine.

“Ah, it's so nice to get some fresh air! The smell of food was nice too, but then you start to get more aware of just how many people were in there. I need room to stretch my feet,” Selphine said, lifting up her legs to almost touch her toes to her fingers despite the dress she had on.

Ritona looked over at her princess in seriousness, despite the relaxed poses she was taking. “How do you feel?” She didn't clarify her question, but given the circumstances, the topic should be obvious to both of them.

The "end" of the Path-Down process was, at a glance, anticlimactic. There were no hostile personality takeovers, or any apparent cognitive disturbances - and that was how it was supposed to be, considering the seamless incorporation of generations upon generations of knowledge and experience into one mind was the goal. Ritona hadn't wanted to unnecessarily direct Selphine's attention to any discomfort she might have, especially not when big events were due to take place at the palace. But years of attending to the princess had sharpened her perception to Selphine's physical and mental conditions, and despite the firm face she wore at royal functions, there was an undercurrent of unease visible from beneath.

“Ah.” Smile slightly fading, Selphine looked up at the sky and then down at her hands. “It's… a complicated feeling. All those kings and queens before me… they're now more of me, but I also feel more like myself compared to any time since the Path-Down progression was started. There shouldn't be any bad cases of Empress Syndrome from now on, at least,” she ended with a slightly pained smile.

“You can always count on me if anything happens. And once you take up more queenly responsibilities… there'd be even more people you can count on.” Ritona herself was surprised at how the tone of her voice changed towards the end of her words - surely what she pointed out wasn't something to be unhappy about.

“You'll always be the first one I'll call out for if I need any help.” Selphine slipped her fingers between Ritona's.

Ritona looked down at their hands. For the longest time, she had been Selphine's most trusted aide, one of her closest confidants, and she'd gladly continue being that as long as it is asked of her. But what if the day when she's no longer asked to really did come? “What about when-”

“Say, Ritona,” Selphine said, breaking off the contact just as abruptly as she stood up. “What do you say about a dance?”

Ritona raised an eyebrow. “I thought you were the one who kept making fun of how badly I dance when drunk.”

“Well, you aren't drunk right now, aren't you?”

There was that glass of wine she drank as a courtesy, back in the hall when she was briefly accompanying Selphine as some dukes came by to talk to her. But even for her, that wasn't enough to impair her senses in a noticeable way. And the whole while she was pondering this, Selphine was having her hand out, waiting for her to take it.

“All right, sure,” Ritona said, standing up. Taking up Selphine's hand, she took it to her lips with a bow. “As you wish, my lady.”

Selphine returned the favour with a curtsy. “Well then, shall we?”

While she was mostly only teased about her drunk dancing, Ritona wasn't exactly the best dancer when sober either. Cautiously placing one arm around Selphine's waist and entangling the fingers of their free hand, she let her princess take the lead, following her as she stepped to the left and right. Left and right. Left and right. Left and right. Left and right...

“...I know my dancing skills aren't one to brag about and you're taking that into consideration, but is this even dancing?”

“Oh, Ritona." Selphine smiled with her eyes cast down, then looked back up into Ritona's eyes with renewed vigour. "The real dancing starts now!”

And with that, Selphine took a bigger step to the right, slightly backwards. Ritona managed to match that with ease, only to have to watch another bigger step for the next one. And then a big one to the side. After a few more steps, a turn such that she was the one stepping backwards for the next few steps. And then they traded paces again. And before long, they had been waltzing down the length of the path through the middle of the yard, dancing to the rhythm of an imaginary song under the moonlight - or so Ritona thought, but upon closer hearing Selphine was softly humming a familiar melody; a folk song. Ritona let herself be swayed both by the steps and the tune, yielding her whole self.

“Hey, Ritona,” Selphine said, calming down into small steps in place to let both of them to catch their breaths. “You know how in some kingdoms, the kings used to hold a ball to find a match for their daughters, regardless of what the daughters wanted?”

“I've heard of it. And a similar practice is still done in some kingdoms in this continent, though with both princes and princesses, and also with no restrictions on the gender of the suitors.” After a few seconds, a thought struck her. “Selphine, could it be that you're planning -”

“Oh, no. It's not a big tradition in Rughzenhaide, for one. And besides,” she paused to look up at Ritona straight in the eye, “I don't need to do anything else to find someone I want to spend the rest of my life with.”

Ritona stayed silent for a while. “Is that so?”

Selphine nodded. “I'm already dancing with her, after all.”

There weren't many things that could catch Ritona Reighnvhasta off-guard, but that sentence just did – were it not for her trained reflexes, she might have stepped on Selphine's foot. “What – what are you – are you serious?”

“Of course I am. This is a pretty serious matter, you know?”

Pondering her words, Ritona stopped following Selphine's steps, keeping still on her feet until Selphine joined her in stopping as well. “ _Princess_ ,” she started, fully knowing that she might be touching on a nerve with that form of address. “There are already people unhappy about my appointment, thinking I'm only at this position because of favouritism. Those don't bother me, I can prove to them that I have what it takes to do my duties any time. But this… Everyone would be expecting you to marry some prince or princess from a neighbouring country, or to form a more politically advantageous union. What will you say when someone asks you about that?”

Selphine seemed unperturbed by Ritona's words. “Do you not want to be by my side?” And then, in a more melancholic tone, “Of course, if you don't, I won't force you to -”

“No!” The answer came reflexively, almost forcefully. “There's no way I wouldn't want to stay by your side, no matter what anyone else says. But you -” And that was when she paused, and looked right into Selphine's eyes. This was a young woman who had overcome threats to her life, with the memories of eight generations of rulers burned into her consciousness. Some disapproval wasn't going to make her back away from her decisions that easily. “...Never mind. I should never have doubted you. Being strong-willed is just one of the things you're amazing at, after all.”

“And how did we get here again? You're the amazing one – among others, you did just manage to match all of my dance steps without former preparation,” Selphine said, as proudly as if it was her own achievement.

“That can also be chalked up to your instructing abilities.”

“Just accept that this is another thing you're good at, okay?”

“I can say the same to you.”

Out of words other than a repetition of that back-and-forth, the two broke into laughter, arms still around each other. When the laughter subsided, their gazes naturally fall on each other, full of fondness, and with no hesitation, Selphine put her hands on the sides of Ritona's face and pulled down.

Ritona didn't resist, of course.


End file.
